Cleansers

It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's foot. Oh, and you can drink it. Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. It has been approved by U.S. regulators. And it's starting to replace the toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job. The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current.

By day, Patti Marcotte is a working mom -- dealing with the balancing act created by a 5-year-old daughter, a demanding job, a split-level house and a willful boxer puppy. Come the post-dinner hour, however, Marcotte begins operating in the shadowy world of smuggled soap.

One person died and at least 72 others were sickened by allergic reactions to denture cleaners, sometimes because of misuse of the products, U.S. regulators said Monday. The Food and Drug Administration blamed a bleach called persulfate, an allergen used in most denture cleansers, according to notices posted on the agency's website. The agency urged doctors and patients to be aware of the symptoms of an allergic reaction and to use the cleansers as directed.

The products: In past ages, people generally didn't wash their hands until they had an obvious reason, perhaps involving livestock or topsoil. Or both. But in these germ-conscious times, removing dirt is almost an afterthought when we step up to the sink. Our main goal is the total and utter destruction of E. coli, salmonella, campylobacter, rhinoviruses and any other germs that might have the nerve to make us sick. Regular soap doesn't kill many germs directly.

For years before the mid-1980s, groundwater in parts of Southern California was contaminated with toxic solvents, yet the federal body responsible for tracking this didn't investigate the potential health threat to people who were drinking contaminated tap water. A congressional committee is now investigating why that neglect occurred. Here's a closer look at what scientists know about the main solvents of concern and their health effects.

Tons of chemicals in antibacterial soaps used in the bathrooms and kitchens of virtually every home are being released into the environment, yet no government agency is monitoring or regulating them in water supplies or food. About 75% of a potent bacteria-killing chemical that people flush down their drains survives treatment at sewage plants, and most of that ends up in sludge spread on farm fields, according to Johns Hopkins University research.

Extensive studies of two toxic chemicals found in children's bath and personal care products suggest that if they pose a health hazard, it is likely to be extremely small and probably incalculable, a review of scientific research shows. The two chemical compounds -- 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde -- were found in trace quantities in children's shampoos, bath gels, lotions and wipes in a study conducted by the consumer group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.